The objective of the present work was to reduce chemical oxygen demand (COD), color of textile effluent containing dye Procion Blue 2G and recycle the treated effluent. To achieve this objective, the degradation potential of bacterial strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa was tested. In degradation, the 'clean' electro-oxidation (EO) process was combined with bio-treatment such that an electro-oxidation step was included between two bio-degradation treatments. Bio-oxidation process was carried out under aerobic and anoxic conditions. Results showed more than 90% reduction in COD and complete removal of color at the end of two cycles of combined oxidation process with a post electro-oxidation. The treated effluent was then subjected to photo-oxidation to remove the microbes so that the water can be recycled after the removal of total dissolved solids (TDS). (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.